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Angellis_ater's Blog |
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| The following is a list of Angellis_ater's blog entries, in reverse order |
| Saturday, January 31, 2009 (00:43:00) - *Swish* That was time passing me by |
I just realized that I hadn't written anything, personal, here - for almost 4 months. So, I'm remedying that right now. I think most people here understand that I'm in a different situation since my son was born and that my sleep has been disrupted, thus affecting my output.
But. I need to say this. It is the fans and customers who come here, who bring the greatest joy. Thankyou for coming here, for showing that what we do is worth your time and interest! It is my hope that during 2009 we will be able to transform and change how Dreamscarred Press operates and relates to things.
And, I'll give you a few hints - we're embracing the future, wanting to share, wanting YOU to share in what we create. We're expanding the horizons of what it means to be a game designer - as Custom Design clearly shows. We're trying new things (we will fail, but from failure, we learn) and we're looking for new ways to do business. If anyone can spot the direction and nail it down in a forum post, I'll personally give that person the next two PDFs we release, for free. So, bring on the guesses - btw, IF someone nails it, I'll be honest about it and tell everyone more. See this as a preview! 
We're moving into providing more or our books in Print-on-Demand - hopefully even through Amazon, which means we can consolidate our printing. I still have entire board/cardgames written up that we might explore indepth in the future. People seem to be getting used to printing out Power Cards for 4th Edition - perhaps we can provide the board/card-games in print-outs?
Have an idea for what we could do? Share it with us! Want to see us create cardgames? Tell us! Only through interaction with YOU, do we have any real purpose. 
So, take care, thankyou for believing in us and have a great 2009! |
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Comments (1) |
| Sunday, October 05, 2008 (14:29:33) - Need some people to provide feedback |
Ok, so since Jeremy is kinda strapped for time since stuff IRL is affecting his workload and I need someone to bounce ideas off, this is a general call-out. Are YOU interested in being part of the design process by being my personal wall of feedback? Damn, this sounds like a personals ad in a newspaper or something, but it's what I'm looking for.
You'll review the concepts and the writing and tell me what you think, why you think so, what problems you see, what upsides you see (and why for both). Interested? Post in the General forum with the title "Feedback Application" and we'll talk some more on the details, your experience and stuff like that.
Right now the following projects need feedback:
Smart Settings: Confederation
Smart Settings: PSION
Smart Settings: METAHUMAN
Smart Settings: Dark Earth
Smart Settings: Brotherhood
4E: Morphean
4E: Social challenges
3.5E: Social challenges
3.5E: Symbiotes
True20: Social challenges
True20: Psion's Handbook
M&M: Social challenges
You up for it? |
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| Sunday, September 14, 2008 (12:01:23) - New approaches to writing |
The more I write as a professional, published, author, the more I learn about the process. I've realized that my mind tends to wander, making me write multiple projects at once. This however slows down my rate of finished material and can lead me to either vomit forth considerable releases in a short span of time, or leave me barehanded with a dozen half-finished projects.
At this stage, I have decided that I will finalize Fleshcrafting (in writing now) and make Symbiots a smaller release. After that, my "in the works" stuff for 3.5 is over and done with and I can start focusing on one project at a time.
Phrenic Shards is complete and only needs proofing before it goes into layout and editing, and I got a True20 version underway (see what I mean about multiple projects?) which should be finished in under a week.
Now, I'm not sure that a 100% focused style of writing fits my mind or how I do work, although I am going to give it a serious try to see how it works out and if it feels like I get more accomplished in a shorter timeframe. Wish me luck! 
BTW - in the works right now:
4E
Phrenic Shards - finished, in proofing
Knightmare (4E morphean variant) - conceptual stage, some playtesting
Mini-setting: Dark Earth - conceptual stage, some basic writing has been done
3.5E
Third Dawn - finished writing, in proofing/layout/editing
High Psionics: Fleshcrafting - finished writing, in proofing/layout/editing
High Psionics: Symbiotes - 45% finished
True20
Third Dawn - finished writing and conversion
Phrenic Shards (to be renamed) - finished writing, mechanics 60% converted
Mini-setting: PSION - conceptual stage, basic writing, in playtesting
Psionic Handbook - 35% finished
M&M
Inhuman - 25% done
PSION: Unleashed - 20% done
Edited to reflect latest changes. |
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| Sunday, September 07, 2008 (08:44:40) - New Era Publishing |
Being part of the development of how business online will look is pretty interesting to me, so far atleast. We are tossing around a bunch of ideas for how we can develop and evolve as a company and part of the online design movement.
1. Patronage - originally done in gaming by Open Design & Wolfgang Baur. The idea that Baur uses is that he sets a "limit" on how much donations he requires to write a book/adventure. He then offers people to become patrons of that project, paying inbetween 30 to 100+ dollars. In exchange for this donation you get insight and greater and greater degrees of creative control and say-so. If we would do something like this, we would likely follow his lead and put out a number of projects that we could work on, set limits for each one and open up for people to donate. Whatever enough people donate for, we write and release - patrons get it for free and the possibility to buy print for print-costs only. Others get to buy the PDF and possible Print version at normal price. Unlike Piecemeal Publishing, patronage is transferable to different projects or refundable.
2. Design-by-Demand - This idea is based around that we'll do what people ASK us to do. Putting out a pricelist for individual items (feat, power, item, prestige class, feat chain, base class) we open up for people putting in orders with us. They might want a new psionic race for their campaign, or an NPC, a new power or perhaps a couple of feats that fits an idea they have. They pay us a small amount (say 5 dollars for a feat), we make it, test it and they get it, spiffied up in an official PDF. In return, we get to use that material in whatever e-book we put out. Some of it might end up in race books, power compilations or whatever fits.
3. Piecemeal Publishing - A middle road between Patronage and DbD, piecemeal publishing is based on providing a free sample of a product and offer a "tipping jar". If people tip to a pre-set level, we do another installment, if not, or just to a smaller amount, we take it as a thank you for the freebie. We continue writing until we hit a pre-determined "final post" (which will be announced) or people stop tipping. This way, we create our own material and offer it to the public, but the people decide what gets written. Difference between patronage is that with PP, everything that has been tipped for, gets released for free under a CC-license - we might compile the information, tidy it up, make it look nice and add a bunch of art and release it as a "for buy" option.
4. Ransom Model - an extreme variant of Piecemeal Publishing. Here, we write the entire conceptual idea completely, offer a few previews and put out a Ransom. If the ransom is met within X months, we release the entire project, for free, for everyone. This might or might not include art, depending on what goals we set. This is the model I like the least, part because it requires us to put up ALL the effort at the start with the very real possibility of not getting squat for it. If we're doing it like this, we might just as well release it as a "for buy" PDF and see the money trickle in (if it does).
So, do people have any OTHER ideas for alternative business models? |
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| Thursday, June 05, 2008 (23:13:02) - Heroic, Paragon and Epic - in 3.5E |
This is more of an essay than a normal blog entry, but here goes anyway.
Throughout my history of gaming in 3.5, I've seen a division somewhat like what Wizards used for 4E (and I'm stealing their definitions for this essay) but at different levels than what they suggest.
At levels 1-7, you are playing "mortal" heroes, people who are extraordinary individuals who can do awesome stuff, but this is still within the "grasp" of the normal individual. A farmer can imagine being able to train enough to make two deadly attacks almost at once (iterative attacks) or tame magic powerful enough to let people fly. The concepts for the E6 style of play is based somewhat around these concepts. This is essentially the time when heroes are still Heroic.
At levels 8-14, you go beyond mortal. This is the area where the characters being doing stuff that is the basis for myths and legends, the true heroes whose stories will be told for ages to come. They take on powerful enemies, raise the dead and shake of blows that kill a farmer as if they were mosquitobites. This is the time when they are welcome everywhere, given respect by kings and queens, wield powerful magics and have access to mighty magical items. The more magically inclined individuals craft items and weapons that will one day become legendary. This is the time when heroes are Paragons to the world around them.
At levels 15-20 you open up the world to the godlike epic events. At these levels, the characters rewrite the rules of the universe, wield magic powerful enough to summon angels or demon lords to do their bidding, travel instantly all across the MULTIVERSE and take on Demon Lords, Ancient Dragons and other adventures that become myths. At the end of this career, these individuals are powerful enough to be demigods, above the mortal baseline to such a degree that the farmer must use the divine as inspiration for describing these individuals. This is the time when heroes become demigods who rise to become Gods as their stories become myths.
To me, level 20 is the END of gaming. The "Epic Level Handbook" was a huge mistake in my eyes (both conceptually and how it was implemented) because the only thing that SHOULD come after 20th level is a finishing story of immortality.
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